


Until 6 AM

by RoseWilder



Category: Bleach
Genre: Death, Gen, Gore, Mutilation, Ships not decided, So many characters and so many will die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2019-11-17 14:16:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 26
Words: 18,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18100172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseWilder/pseuds/RoseWilder
Summary: People from all over the world has been taken away from their daily life and placed into a sadistic game. Who will survive it all?





	1. Instructions - Ulquiorra

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is just going to be one big test for me to be able to write all these characters.  
> Also, who dies is not always up to me, thank you very much random number generator... A few are decided, but not all of them, so this is going to be painful for me too.
> 
> English is not my first language, so I'm terribly sorry for any mistakes I might make.

He slowly sat up. Where was he? This… was not his bedroom. He looked around, eyes scanning the room he was in. It looked like a hotel room, but not one he knew of. What was going on? He froze as he heard noises from outside the bedroom.

“Anyone there!?” the voice called. It was not a voice he recognized.

He didn’t respond, he just sat there and stared at the door. Then there were more voices, more people talking. He couldn’t hear what was being said, the door muffled their voices, but there were three different voices now… no… four? How many people were out there?

He let out a sigh and decided to see if the door could open, and it did. The conversation stopped as he stepped out. There were six people there, seven with himself.

“Do you know what’s going on?” one girl with a heavy Indian accent asked.

Ulquiorra shook his head. “I woke up in that room, no memory of how I got here, and no knowledge of where we might be.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Another one of them asked.

“Laying in bed at home.”

“The last thing I remember is driving home from a late night shift,” one of the other said.

“I was on my way to a party.”

“Gaming.”

So… they hadn’t even been asleep when they were snatched? What had happened?! How had all of these people just been taken away like that? You would remember it if you were driving and someone stopped your car to take you, and someone playing games were alert and should at least remember being snatched up.

“What country were you in?”

“Germany,” Ulquiorra replied. He barely had an accent at all, so one wouldn’t be able to tell where he was from.

“Australia,” another person said.

“Brazil.”

“Ireland.”

Silence. They were all just staring at one another. How… was this possible? They were from all over the world.

“Wait. Wait, a moment. Is this a prank? Are you guys actors or something?” One guy with a heavy southern American accent asked.

“No,” Ulquiorra said simply.

They continued to discuss what could have happened. Everything from aliens to government conspiracies were brought up. During that time three more people emerged into this one large living room. So Ulquiorra guessed that all of the doors around them were bedrooms.

At some point they grew tired of talking, and some started to explore to see if there was a way out, while others were trying to see if the large tv that was on the wall would work, but they didn’t have much luck with that.

The rooms had no windows, so it was impossible to look out to figure out where they were, or even if it was day or night. The clock on the wall said it was almost 5, but was it AM or PM? Ulquiorra had no idea since it was not a digital clock.

Then the tv suddenly turned on and two of the guys that had been hanging around it cheered, though Ulquiorra was very sure whatever they had been doing had been completely ineffective. On the screen there was a man, partly hidden. His face was in shadows, so the only part that was lit up was his upper body, and arms. He was sitting by a wooden desk.

“Welcome, everyone. I am pleased to see so many people partake in this game of mine. As of right now there are 640 participants, a fine number.” the man said, his voice smooth.

No one in the room said anything, everyone was just staring at the tv now. Had 640 people been kidnapped, or was he joking? Game? What sort of game? He had a really bad feeling about this.

“Sadly, not all of you will survive this game, but it will be interesting to see how long you are able to last. Ah, but before we begin, you might want to know how the game works.”

There was a pause, as though he wished to add some sort of dramatic effect.

“You have been divided into a team of ten, and your job is to survive from 6 PM until 6 AM. If you live through it, you will go to the next round. However, if you are the sole survivor of your group, you will get to skip one round.”

If… this was for real. Their life were in danger, so then working together would be the best solution, yet he was encouraging selfishness. This was… scary. Ulquiorra kept calm, and for now he just stood there and thought this through. The others were immediately engaged in a heated discussion about this. What was going to happen? Why or how would their lives be in danger?

Ulquiorra looked over at the clock. Slowly it moved towards 6, and he guessed it was 6 PM it would be very soon then.

The discussion continued until then, and just as the clock hit 6 all the lights went out, and there was a low noise happening somewhere nearby. A few seconds later the lights were turned on again, and they were in a different location. So… the game had begun.


	2. 6PM - Izuru

He looked around nervously. Where were they now? This… this looked like someone’s home. Oh this really couldn’t get any worse now could it? He had been ready to die, but… he would have liked it to happen on his own terms, not whatever this game was.

It looked like this was a normal living room. A set of staircases up to a second floor, and the living room was open so that you could see up to the second floor, or part of it. He had been busy looking around when a door to his right was suddenly kicked in and someone he could barely call human stepped into the living room. His face was covered… and he was holding a machete. This… Had they been placed in some sort of slasher movie!? No. No, this wasn’t real. That guy wasn’t going to do them anything, right? He was trembling slightly, but he had to stay focused, as he had no idea what was going to happen left.

The guy had been visible for barely a second when he suddenly stepped forward and slashed with that weapon of his and… he hit the person that had been closest to him, as one of the ten on his group had not decided to step back away from him.

The guy fell to the floor screaming. There was blood, so much blood, and as he turned to lay on his back he could see that the guy was trying to keep his intestines from spilling out of his body.

WHAT WAS THIS?! WHAT SORT OF GAME WAS THIS!? WAS THAT PERSON REALLY DYING!?

That was when the panic began and everyone ran in a different direction. Izuru did too. He immediately ran up stairs and inside one of the first doors he could reach. Might not be the best of ideas to lock himself in here, but… maybe it could work.

He looked around the room he was in now. This was an office. Desk, bookshelves. Okay, he could block the door! Then it would be harder for that killer to get inside. First he managed to push one bookshelf in front of the door. And then another one, letting that one fall to the ground first so that he could push it on its side. Then the third one. As he was working on that one he heard that there was someone at the door.

“PLEASE LET US IN! HE IS RIGHT BEHIND US! PLEASE!”

Izuru froze and stared in the direction of the door. He… couldn’t do that. Even if he wanted to, he didn’t have enough time to do anything against the blockade he had created.

“I’m so sorry,” he replied, his voice a bit shaky.

Crying, screaming, and running. That’s what he heard, and someone begging for mercy. He just stood there. There was nothing he could do for them, though the thought of what might happening to them was quickly overshadowed by the fact that the enemy was also right outside his door. He didn’t dare move, barely dared to breath.

Something banged against the door and the whole barricade shook. Izuru placed both hands over his mouth as he watched. Was… was he going to die here?! Another bang, and he could see the barricade being pushed slightly.. Then it stopped. He stood there like frozen to the ground as he watched, and watched.

Minutes passed, but he didn’t dare to move, so he just continued to stand there, and stare.

Then he jumped as there was a loud sound coming from down the hall, and he guessed that’s where the kill was now, so he moved again and continued to build his barricade. He needed it to be strong enough for him to survive for 12 hours. 12 whole hours. It really sounded like an eternity right now.


	3. 7PM - Yammy

“This is so fucking dumb,” he mumbled as he leaned against the wall. He was used to crime, he was used to bad shit happening, so unlike the others here, he didn’t panic when there was suddenly a murderer on the loose.

For the past hour he had found himself in a room with four other people, and they had done whatever they could to block the door, he had helped out a bit, since he guessed he should keep himself safe, but whatever. If the killer came for him then he would just destroy them. He had killed before, he could do it again.

Yammy let out a annoyed groan as one of the girls started to cry. Now he had to deal with this whining too?

“Shut the fuck up or I’ll make you,” Yammy barked. “Stupid bitch,” he added under his breath.

“She’s scared. Like the rest of us. Have some sympathy, and stop with that macho ordeal,” another girl replied.

“She’s a coward, and cowards die,” Yammy replied and yawned. Yeah, the others made sure to stay far away from him now. Good. He didn’t want to deal with them.

He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, only to open them as there was a loud thump against the door and the scared girl, and a young boy, screamed. Come on. This was so, so incredibly annoying. Rage was boiling beneath his skin, and the temptation to just kill the others in the room was intense.

The knocking continued, and Yammy saw the barricade move. Looks like the fucker was a lot stronger than they had expected. He only groaned and straightened up. Fine, if he was going to come in here then Yammy was going to deal with him the proper way.

The others were scrambling into a corner. The crying and all that sobbing coming from them was just fueling Yammy’s rage.

“Pull it together you pussies. You want to die crying and begging? Fucking pathetic. You deserve to die,” Yammy barked at them, and got no response.

The barricade continued to crack and crumble, and the killer pushed past it. He could see blood on the axe he was holding. Well. Guess some people had died then. The killer immediately headed towards the group of people curled up in the corner and they all screamed and sobbed and begged him not to do it, to not kill them. For fuck sake.

Yammy rolled his eyes and watched as the killer raised his axe and swung it down, the axe cutting into the head of one guy, going deep into his skull and as he yanked it out the boy was very much dead. Yammy could see that the cut went from the top of his head to right under his right eye. That was a lot of force used. Well. Might as well deal with this shit before the other had turned his attention towards him.

Yammy moved towards the killer, who had his back towards him, and with no hesitation gripped his head and violently twisted it to the side. There was a loud snap and the killer fell to the ground.

“So… just gotta wait out the time now. Fucking dull,” Yammy yawned.

He had been about to take a seat when there was suddenly a voice, he first thought it was in his head, but judging by the others reaction they could hear it too.

“Now that was unexpected. I applaud you for your action, so as a reward, you will get to go back to your rooms and relax until the next round.”

Cool.

There was a bright light and they were back where they started… only… there was a huge table filled with food there now!

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Yammy grinned and immediately started to dig in. He couldn’t have cared less what the other survivors were doing, and honestly, had it not been for their whining, then this was kind of fun.


	4. 8PM - Nelliel

“It’s going to be okay, we’ll get through this,” Nelliel said with a gentle smile on her lips. She had to be strong, and she needed to be brave for the others. When she had awoken in what had soon turned out to be a nightmare she had decided to take the responsibility for three young boys, and was doing her best to keep their hopes up.

At first she had been making jokes, acting as a distraction, until she had realized that they could actually die here, then she had turned serious, but not too serious.

“Let’s play a game. Let’s see who can make the least amount of noise,” she said, still smiling.

They had not been able to really find a room to lock themselves in, but as far as she had heard, it was not the best strategy either as she had already seen two doors being broken beyond repair. So for now they moved around a bit. The house was large, so there were plenty of places for them to hide. Right now they were in the kitchen, crouch down behind a counter. However, they could not stay here for very long, and she knew that. They had to move, but right now she had no idea where that bastard was, so she risked them running into him if they walked away, and at that point, they would be dead. She would not be able to protect all of them at once against him.

Yeah, she would be willing to tell them to run and sacrifice herself to hopefully keep them alive, but… that was not something she wanted to happen, so she just had to be careful for now.

Not a sound was heard, and she couldn’t tell for how long they had been stuck in this house, hiding from a murderer, but it felt like half a day. She took a deep calming breath, pushing away whatever fear dared creep up on her. She was a damn police officer, she knew how to keep calm and collected in tough situations.

They sat there, quiet and barely daring to move. Then there was a scream. Nelliel turned her head as she saw one of the boys jump and tears started to stream down his cheeks. He was so scared. So she reached out and wrapped an arm around him.

Following the scream there were several thumbs, sounding like someone falling down the stairs that were two rooms away. More screaming and crying. Clearly, the killer was not far away from them now.

The boys were trembling, but they managed to stay calm. Two of them were covering their eyes and had curled up against her. What sort of sadistic monster would drag children into something like this!?

Footsteps.

Someone had stepped into the kitchen and she knew who it was.

She could hear him walk around for a bit. Then there was a pause. The killer was standing right in front of the counter they were hiding behind. Nelliel slowly looked up and expected him to be leaning over it to look down at them. He wasn’t. Instead she heard him walk out the way he came and head back up to the floor above. Now she knew where he was, and with that she also knew that this was the perfect moment for them to move.

She slowly got up, and gestured for the boys to follow her. They walked out the second door to the kitchen, and into a long hallway. There were bedrooms here, and a bathroom. They had been moving around enough to know that. There was one door however she had not tried.

They crept over to it and Nelliel slowly opened it. Perfect. The basement. They could hide down there.

She gestured for the boys to walk down ahead of her down the dark steps, and they did with only a little bit of hesitation. It was dark, only the light from the hallway lighting the way. She waited until they were at the bottom of the stairs before she stepped inside and closed the door, leaving them in pitch darkness as she slowly and carefully moved down.

“Now, find somewhere to hide. We’re playing hide and seek now,” Nelliel said quietly.

“You lost the silent game,” one of the boys commented.

“Aaaaw. I guess I did.”


	5. 9PM - Baraggan

He had never been this angry before. Never in his life. First of all, someone had DARED to take him away from his own home. Kidnapped him! Then they had placed him together with lowly people, people unworthy of his presence! And now he was forced to take part in this murder game!? It was outrageous! It was a scandal!

He had managed to find himself a room to stay in, and locked the door. It should keep the killer out, though he refused to accept that he was to be here for the rest of the night, and then there was apparently another round after that!?

“I know you can hear me,” he growled in anger. “How dare you do this?! Do you not know who I am?! What sort of power I hold?! The whole world must be looking for me right now, and you expect to get away with this?!”

He was yelling at this point.

“If you let me out of here, I will forget all about this incidence, but if you force me to wait until rescue, then there will be dire consequences for you! YOU HEAR ME!?”

There was no answer, but he knew the other could hear him, and he was certain whoever was controlling this could also see him.

“I don’t know what you think you will gain out of doing this, if this is all for your sick amusement, but mark my words, you will not get away with kidnapping me. You will NOT!”

He took a pause just to regain some breath. He was not in the best physical shape, and this much anger couldn’t possibly be good for his health.

“I have an important meeting tomorrow morning at 8 AM sharp! Let me out of here before then, and I will pretend nothing happened, if you force me to lose that meeting, then I will do everything in my power to destroy you.”

He had to take another pause. He was getting so worked up over this, pretty much fuming with rage, this sort of pure anger was something he had truly never felt before. Not even when his son had suggested he retired. Of course, his son had wanted to take over the company, but he would have destroyed it, so he arranged for his son to mysteriously disappear. No one ever found out what happened to that boy, and Baraggan did a good job pretending to be devastated by the loss of his only son.

“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!? YOU MUST HAVE AS YOU SNATCHED ME OUT OF MY OWN HOME, AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW YOU MANAGED THAT, BUT THAT WOULD HAVE TAKEN A LOT OF NERVE! I AM BARAGGAN LUISENBARN CEO OF-”

There was a loud smash as something heavy collided with the door and it caused him to stop his speech mid sentence. He stared at the door, daring it to give in. No, it wouldn’t. It took a lot to break through a locked door, so he was certain that he was safe here.

Then the door gave away, and the killer stepped inside the room. The cleaver he was carrying was bloody, and so was his clothes. It didn’t bother Barragan, he couldn’t have cared less what this moron had done to the others.

“If you know what is best for yourself, then you will stay back,” he ordered. “I hold more power than you ever will. Go and find someone else to kill.” He added a dismissive gesture to that last sentence.

The killer stepped towards him.

“Are you deaf?!” he hissed and stood straight, trying to appear more intimidating. “I told you to leave, as I am busy trying to make a deal with your boss, and you are interrupt-”

Just like the conversation he had been yelling, this sentence was interrupted too as the killer quickly slashed his knife and opened up Barragan’s stomach. For a moment the elderly man just stood there and looked down. His first thought being that his clothes were ruined, and he wanted to yell at the other about it. Then the pain set in, and it was intense, forcing him to scream. Something else was wrong too, and when he looked down once more he saw that his intestines were spilling out onto the floor. He sank down to his knees and with shaky hands tried to push everything back in place, but he couldn’t. He was bleeding so much.

“Y-you…” he managed as he looked up at the other, who simply walked out of there, leaving the other alone to die a very slow and painful death.

~~~~~

“51 minutes and 17 seconds with that wound. He managed for a while before death finally took him,” he mumbled to himself as he watched one of the cameras and then reached out to pick up his cup of tea.


	6. 10PM - Gin

Well now this was a tricky situation to find yourself it. Or it would have been, had he been someone else. For about an hour he had been sitting up here, on a beam that was across the livingroom, and the only way to get there was by doing a long jump from the second floor.

So, the killer had only given him a couple of looks thus far. At one point he had paused to look at him, and Gin could almost see the gears inside that idiot’s head turn as if he was trying to think how he could get to Gin.

“You can always throw stuff at me,” Gin had suggested with a wide smile, and at that point the killer had walked away to find a target that might be easier to deal with. Gin even had a feeling he had given the killer the creeps. How funny wasn’t that?

Well then, he was just stuck here while waiting for the time to pass. It was a bit boring, but what could he do? Now and then something would happen, like someone running away from the killer, even saw someone trip down the stairs while running in a wild panic, and the way they had broken their leg on the way down. Ouch!

“I don’t think your leg is supposed to bend like that,” he had called down.

He had even seen someone who only had their upper body left try to crawl away. Aaaw, what a mess that had been.

Now… just waiting. He looked towards a corner where he had seen a blinking red light earlier, so he knew there was a camera there.

“Having fun aren’t you?” he called out with a wide smirk. Oh he knew the other was having fun, and he was looking forward to get to the end of this so that he might get to him.


	7. 11PM - Chad

There was three of them running through the building. Chad could still hear the killer behind him as he was the last of the three, and he had done so on purpose as he feared one of the other two being left behind without him noticing. The small group that had formed when the ‘game’ had begun had already lost two members, and he didn’t want to see any more people die. They rushed into a room and Chad quickly closed and locked the door behind himself before following the others, who went through another door that was on the other side of the room.

“Slow down,” he called out and they did just that.

Silence. They had no idea where the killer was right now as the door made no sound, so he wasn’t trying to break through the door, which meant he might be going back the way he came. So now, they had no idea where the killer was.

One of the two people he was with, a girl with wild curly red hair from Scotland, motioned for them to head upstairs and the other two nodded. Silently, and carefully they stepped through this room and to the living room where the stairs were. The girl was the first to look around the corner and then motioned for the other to follow as the coast was clear.

Chad did his best to not look down as there were two mutilated corpses on the ground, but at the same time he needed to look down to watch his footing, as he did not wish to slip on an organ or trip over one of the corpses.

They had to be very careful up the stairs as it were slick with blood. The boy ahead of him, a dark skinned young teenage boy from the US, slipped on one of the steps, but Chad managed to stop him from falling.

They got up to the top of the stairs, this area was filled with blood too as there was a body laying nearby. This girl had bled out, and Chad could still hear all the crying that had come from her when she had been dying. He wished there had been something he could have done for her.

They decided to head right, keeping a low profile and walking slowly and quietly so that the killer wouldn’t notice them. Chad could see how the boy ahead of him was trembling. Yes, this was absolutely terrifying, this whole ordeal was terrifying, but they were almost half way through the night now. He had to hope that they could make it through all the way, that they could survive this twisted game.

The girl that was walking in the front suddenly stopped. For a moment Chad could feel fear rise within him, fear that she might have heard the killer or seen something. Instead she straightened up and pointed up. Chad looked up. There was a hatch in the ceiling that would lead to the attic.

Perfect.

Chad and the boy moved closer to her so that they could talk.

“I can lift one of you up so that you can reach that,” Chad said.

“Lift me, I’m the lightest of the two of us,” the girl said and the boy nodded.

Chad knelt down so that she could get onto his shoulders and then slowly stood up. She could reach the ceiling with ease now and was fumbling to open the hatch.

Then they all froze. Steps. Someone was slowly walking up the stairs, clearly being mindful of the blood there. The girl quickly continued to work and managed to open the hatch, and did so slowly as the ladder would come down with it, and they needed to make as little noise as possible.

As Chad knelt down again to let her down the boy was already climbing up, and she quickly followed too. Chad took a moment to turn and look behind. He could hear that the killer was at the top of the stairs, but he was right around a corner so he couldn’t see him, only hear him. It sounded like he was walking in their direction. Now he was forced to stand there and wait for a bit before he could get up the ladder. Those two seconds he stood there felt like so much more. Then he started to climb, and he did so as quickly as he could.

“Hurry,” the girl hissed.

He got his upper body up and that was when he felt fingers grip around his ankle.

Oh no.

He used his elbows to prevent himself from falling and then proceeded to use his free leg to kick at the person holding on to him. Somehow his struggling worked and the other two helped pull him up.

“Fuck,” the boy hissed as he looked down, and Chad was willing to bet that the killer was slowly climbing his way up towards them.

They were trapped.

Chad was like frozen as he watched the entrance, but thankfully one out of them still remembered to think and move as the Scottish girl had jumped to her feet and found an old chair and threw it down the entrance.

“STOP HIM! YOU TWO GIVEN UP?!” 

That caused Chad and the boy to get to their feet and find other things to throw down. Chad picked up the heaviest box he could find and dropped it on the killer, whose head was right by the opening now. This worked as the weight of it caused him to lose his grip and fall.

“PULL THE LADDER UP!” the girl screamed and Chad did just that. Pulling the ladder up, and with that the door too, and slammed it shut.

“Thank fuck,” the boy sighed and sank down onto the floor once more. “Think it’ll be safe to wait here?”

“I think so,” Chad said with a nod. He hoped so.


	8. Midnight - Rukia

Both hands were placed over her mouth and nose to muffle her breathing. She had been running for at least 20 minutes now, and could only thank the fact that she was in better shape than the killer right now. There was no sound coming from any of the two hallways that could lead to this room, but that didn’t mean she was safe, as that guy had been right around the corner when she had last looked over her shoulder.

Rukia had decided to hide under a bed. Most people wouldn’t be able to fit here, but she was small and lithe so she managed, but barely. She had no idea if she was being incredibly clever right now, or incredibly stupid by picking this hiding place. She just knew she needed to hide, and with neither of the doors locked it wouldn’t appear as though someone was hiding in here, right?

Footsteps.

She did her best to just stay calm, and not move at all. The door to her right opened. It was the door she had gone through to get in here. Her eyes widened when she saw the feet of the killer as he walked inside and paused for a moment. She was willing to bet that he was looking around, maybe looking for her. Oh this was bad. The killer moved a bit, taking a few steps closer to the bed. If Rukia reached out she would be able to touch his feet. He stood there for what felt like minutes. Then he walked away, and she almost jumped when she heard him open the closet.

He was actually searching the room!

She was terrified, so terrified, but she had to stay alert and ready, if the bed was moved she had to run!

There was a annoyed grunt, and then he walked out of the room. She was safe. For now.


	9. 1AM - Nanao

This was beyond ridiculous! She should be asleep in her bed right now, not here hiding in a basement! When she had been captured she had been on her way home from work, and how they could have just snatched her up from the rush hour traffic in Tokyo was beyond her. How on earth was it possible for anyone to do this?! It made no sense.

Sadly, as much as she would have liked to figure that mystery out, right now, there was another thing she needed to focus on, and that was to stay alive.

How long had she been hiding down here? She really didn’t know, but it must have been at least an hour, maybe two. The room was pitch black, and so incredibly silent. She was sure the lack of visual stimuli and any sound was going to make her imagine things.

Seconds ticked by. Minutes passed. Then she could hear the door open and it caused her to jump, followed by her completely freezing still. She couldn’t see who it was, but judging by the heavy steps going down the stairs she guessed it was the killer. Nanao took a deep breath, calming herself as much as she could and tried to analyse the situation she was in. This was bad, very much so, but the killer might not find her, and she could get away, it was still possible to survive this. She had to survive this and get back home. How on earth was her boss supposed to be able to do anything without her? He wouldn’t be able to manage anything, and getting a new secretary would be such a pain, especially since she had been working for him for almost 10 years now.

The footsteps were not far from her now. Only a pile of boxes were between them. She slowly shifted her stance, so that she could quickly jump to either left or right if he was to appear around the pile she was hidden behind. Then the other stopped, pausing a bit to her right. She still couldn’t see him, so she had no idea what he was doing. Was he looking around? Did he know she was there?

A bit of shuffling. It sounded like he was moving a few of the boxes that were nearby. Right now she wished she could see what was going on, and had she been able to see what the other was doing, then she would for sure have found a way out a lot quicker.

The sound of boxes being moved stopped, and the silence was so intense, like a heavy blanket that was slowly causing her to suffocate. When there was sound again she almost jumped. The person, killer, was moving again. He was moving to the left, his steps so careful and quiet, she could barely hear him. This was dangerous, and she fear he might know she was there. If she moved, he would hear her, but if she sat still she might get trapped.

He was so close to the edge of the wall of boxes she was behind. Now she was squinting, her eyes might be used to the dark, so she should be able to see him when he was into view, but would he even be able to see her? Moving would be such a risk, but would it be a risk worth taking? If he didn’t know she was there, and was just moving around carefully to not bump into anything, then she would ruin everything by moving. But if he did know she was there, then it would be incredibly dumb of her to just sit perfectly still.

So much to consider. Which one would be the right choice for her to make?

Her eyes widened as he came into view, and turned his head. He was looking right at her. For a moment she just stood still, then he moved towards her, pushing the boxes aside and that was when she knew he saw her, he knew she was there. She dashed to the right and hit a wall of boxes that had not been there previously. That was what he had been doing when he moved things around. For how long had he been aware of her?!

She stumbled and fell to the floor, and had to scramble to get to her feet and immediately headed for the stairs. This was doable. She could still get out of here. The door was within reach and just as she reached out to get it she was stopped. Fingers gripped around her ankle and she was pulled back. She fell, and for a moment all she could feel was pain as she rolled down the stairs. Her wrist especially, and when she tries to move her fingers she found that she couldn’t. This was bad. She tried to sit up only for the killer to kick her in the chest, forcing her back to the ground, the back of her head hitting the concrete floor hard and air being knocked out of her lungs. It felt like she couldn’t breath for a moment. Pain was throbbing through her head, and she felt dizzy. She had to get out of here. There was still a chance, she just had to play this carefully, she just-

Pain shot through her body again, her chest. It hurt so badly and as she lifted a hand to touch where the pain was she could feel warm liquid… she was bleeding? No, no this couldn’t be happening. That was when she realized that the killer was moving up the stairs. He was leaving? Why? Wasn’t he going to kill her. Ugh, her head hurt so much, she couldn’t focus. The pain was so bad.

Slowly she rolled onto her side. So tired… maybe… she could… just sleep… through this… round.

Her eyes never closed.

~~~~~

“What a pity. She had potential,” he hummed under his breath and took another sip from his coffee. Staying awake to watch all of this was rather tiring, but at least it was worth it to see how everything unfolded.


	10. 2AM - Isshin

“We’ll get through this, it’s a promise!” he said with a thumbs up. Yeah, he could be considered annoying, but he just had to do something to make this situation feel less hopeless. They had managed to stay alive thus far, so they could manage the last couple of hours too. He had to believe so, if he was to give up then he would never make it hope to his kids. Aw man, Ichigo was going to kick him for disappearing like this.

His gaze shifted between the two doors in the room, both of them were barricaded, so they should be hard to enter, and they had heard proof of that as someone had been banging on one of the doors earlier to get in, but before they could remove the barricade to let them in they had decided to run away.

In the room was four other people, so about half of the team, which was good, but he did worry for the others who were here. They knew at least two were dead, but for all he knew even more of them had fallen too.

He looked up, there was a clock in the room, there was one in almost every room. It was just past 2AM. This should be doable, or so he hoped. No, it had to be, he refused to let it be anything else.

A hard knock on one of the doors snapped him back to reality. He spun around and faced the door the sound was coming from. This time it was louder, like someone was running into the door, and he could see the whole barricade move a bit. This was bad, but at the same time now he had an idea.

He gestured for the others to come over to him before they could start to panic.

“Okay, you guys start to carefully undo the barrier on the other door, while I focus on this door. Pretend to panic so that he doesn’t get what is going on.” He didn’t let the others respond before he yelled out “HE’S BREAKING THROUGH, WE HAVE TO STOP HIM!”

The others watched him in shock as he ran over to the barrier and tried to push the door and everything closed once more, making as much noise as he could. The others started to yell too, asking what they should do, someone talking about hiding, all while they were slowly undoing the barricade on the other door. Now and then one of them would run over to Isshin to help him with what he was doing, and place some of the barricade from the other door in front of this one.

Isshin yelped as the killer managed to get an arm inside the room, and was wildly flailing around that knife of his, forcing Isshin to step away as he really did not want to get hit. When he turned he saw that the other door was wide open, but he decided to stand here and fight and yell for a bit more, just to let the others get away. Then as the killer could almost squeeze his body through the door he turned and ran out the other door and quickly shut it behind himself and then continued down the hallway. A hand waved out at him and he ran over there and caught up with one of the others, and together they ran to their new hiding spot before the killer could get to them. This place had only one door, so that was a risk, but there was a lot more furnitures they could use as a barricade here, so there was a chance the killer wouldn’t be able to get inside this room at all.


	11. 3AM - Harribel

She watched as the killer stalked towards her, bloodied knife in hand. The whole night she had spent running from him, hiding from him, but now she had had enough. How many had he killed thus far? Someone would have to stop him and she had decided to be the one to do so. It was a huge risk to herself, but it was a risk she was willing to take just to stop the killing.

She took a deep breath, her eyes focused and cold as steel as she watched the other walk towards her, but he appeared to be a bit hesitant now. Her behavior was not something he had not been prepared for, so he was getting a bit thrown off. That didn’t matter to her, either he came to her or she would have to come to him.

She was standing right by a corner, so out of his line of sight, and within her reach, were various items she had found that could help her. A baseball bat as a weapon, ropes that could be used to tie him up, as well as tape. This was hopefully enough, and hopefully, it would work. The thought that she might be sacrificing herself for nothing did send a wave of nervousness through her. This might be incredibly stupid, but stupidity and bravery was so closely linked, and usually only separated by the result. If she succeeded, then she had been brave, if she didn’t, then she had been stupid.

The killer was moving closer and closer to her. Okay, he was soon close enough for her to attack. She shifted her stance a bit, getting ready for him. Thankfully, he did not appear to suspect anything so when he suddenly dashed towards her trying to slash her with his knife she quickly stepped aside and grabbed the baseball bat and brought it down on him, all in one fluid motion. She hit the back of his neck and he was brought down to his knees, clearly a bit disoriented, so she hit him again.

The killer was completely still right now, and for a moment she worried she might have killed him, but she wasn’t going to stand here and wait for him to start moving again if he was alive. She kicked his knife away and got the tape and used it to bind his hands together on his back, then used the rope to tie his legs together, making sure the knot was strong so that he would not be able to wiggle his way out of that, then she stepped back. That should hopefully do it.

“I’m impressed.”

She jumped at the voice. It sounded like it was coming from all around her. This voice… it was the man that had spoken to them at the beginning.

“You have successfully restrained him, without killing him. I believe you deserve a reward for this. Why not relax for the rest of the night somewhere more comfortable.”

There was a bright white light and when she opened her eyes she was in the room where they had all started out. There were two other survivors here… so she had at least managed to keep them alive, but it was saddening to know that not more people had been able to survive.


	12. 4AM - Shiro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hollow Ichigo, it's just easier to call him Shiro.

This was bullshit. Just complete and utter BULLSHIT! Trapped here, and forced to deal with all of these people?! No this was hell. He didn’t fear the bastard that was after him, he didn’t fear anything, but he was really fucking annoyed that he was being forced to participate in this. BUT, if he was the sole survivor, then he would be allowed to skip the next round, right?

There was blood across his shirt, and his jeans were ripped. Right now the people didn’t have one, but two killers to worry about. Now, how many of them were there left for him to kill? There were one who had died at the beginning, an idiot who had confronted the killer. Then there was one who he had kicked down the stairs, the moron had broken her neck on the way down. Three people he had been stuck in a room with for a while. Two that he had found dead later on, killed by the other bastard roaming around here.

So, he had two more to kill, and two hours to do so. Should be very doable.

He continued to stalk down the hallway, listening for anyone who might be here. No sounds, so he decided to call out.

“Anyone here? Please help, I’ve been injured,” he said, pretending to be scared and in pain.

No answer. Ugh. He paused and scoffed, one hand placed on his hip. Guess there was no one in this-

A door nearby was slowly opening up and a teenage boi peaked his head out. Shiro had been quick to pretend to be scared and injured and the boi gestured for him to come over there, so he entered the room and it was quickly shut behind him, and then barricaded. In this room was two people. This teenage boi, and a girl who looked to be maybe 12 years old. Well, so he had to kill children. That was a bit fucked up, but what could he do?

He straightened up and sighed. Oh well, might as well get to it. He went for the boy first, who just stood there and stared at him with wide eyes when Shiro ran for him and then wrapped his fingers around his neck and squeezed as hard as he could. The girl screamed and curled up in a corner.

The boy was trying to fight him, struggling and kicking and punching, but he was not strong enough to get away, and soon enough he became limp. Shiro did not let go of him just yet. After two minutes he let go. There was no pulse, but for good measure he decided to stomp on the boy’s head a few times, fracturing his skull and even caused an eye to pop out. Well, now he was dead for sure.

Then he turned towards the girl. Ugh, his fingers kind of hurt after strangling his latest victim, so sadly, he was not going to give her a death that was that kind. He might just have to beat her to death with something.

The girl continued to sob and was trying to make herself appear as small as humanly possible while she was in that corner, allowing Shiro to walk around and look for something he could use as a weapon. At one point he paused and looked at her.

“Come on, girl, give me a bit of a fight, it’s just fucking depressing to kill someone who is sobbing and trying to hide.” It was, it really took the fun away from the killing.

He moved around a bit in the office they were in, and found a paper weight. It was heavy enough to be used as a weapon. So with that in hand he stepped over to her. She screamed and tried to cover her head with her hands.

“Really?” he sighed and leaned down and gripped her ankle and pulled her out onto the middle of the floor. More screaming. “Shut up,” he groaned, annoyed by all the sound she was making.

He forced her onto her stomach and pressed one knee down between her shoulderblades to keep her there. She was kicking and trying to wiggle free, but there was nothing she could do to get him off of her.

He brought the paperweight down upon her. The first strike caused her to slow down her movement, but she was still clearly awake, mumbling and sobbing slightly and still trying to fight. Second strike, she was no longer fighting, but Shiro could hear her groan. Third strike, she was no longer making any sounds, or moving, but he decided to continue bashing her head in with the paperweight until blood and brain oozed out of the cracks of her broken skull.

“How very brutal.”

Shiro looked up when he heard that voice, a wide smile on his lips. “Yeah? Problem with that?”

“No, but it looks like you are the last survivor here now.”

“You planning to get me the fuck out of here now? Or do you want me to go and kill the fucker that is stalking around here too?” Shiro was standing now.

“No need, you will be rewarded.”

“Good,” he grinned.


	13. 5AM - Yylfordt

Yylfordt placed a hand over his mouth to make sure his breathing was quiet. He wanted to keep running, but Szayel had motioned for him to stay still, and thus far following Szayel’s lead had worked, so he was going to continue to follow his brother.

He looked over at the other, astonished by how incredibly calm he appeared to be. This whole time he had stayed so strong, but Yylfort had been too worried and too busy just focusing on himself to really notice how calm he was. It was as though they were not in a life threatening situation.

“How many do you think is left?” Yylfordt whispered.

“One more, besides us,” Szayel replied and slowly walked by him to look around the corner, down the stairs.

Right now they didn’t know exactly where the killer was, so the plan was to run down if he was on the same floor as them, or get away from the stairs if he was downstairs. At least that’s how Yylfordt understood the plan since Szayel didn’t really tell him much, he pretty much just dragged Yylfordt around and gave orders, which would normally have pissed him off. Their relationship might not be the best, but they were still brothers.

Yylfordt looked up, eyes wide as he heard a scream from downstairs. The only other survivor who was left here was crying for help. That meant that the killer was downstairs. They should move. He reached out for Szayel who was still looking downstairs.

“We need to move,” Yylfordt hissed and Szayel sent him a look. It… was the strangest look he had seen. It was cold, almost dismissive. What the hell?

“You’re right, this way,” Szayel said, his tone didn’t sound right either. What was going on?

The person who was downstairs had stopped screaming, so Yylfordt guessed she was dead. Only the two of them left now. A unpleasant shiver went through his body at the thought that the killer now only had the two of them to focus on, but there wasn’t much time left of this round so they should be able to do it. They had managed so far, and had some close encounters before, so Yylfort was confident they would survive this.

Szayel gripped his wrist, and moved… forward? Why was he going that way? They would have to move past the stairs then, and the killer should be at the bottom of those stairs. This was not making a lot of sense, and Yylfordt was half tempted to pull his hand back and ask Szayel what the hell he was doing, but instead he allowed himself to get pulled forward.

He moved forward, only to see Szayel stop when he was right by the stairs, and roughly pulled Yylfordt over. For a moment he lost his balance as he was forced closer to Szayel, and in the moment he was about to crash into Szayel he saw his brother step to the side and proceeded to use his full body weight to push him. He had not managed to regain his balance when he suddenly found himself falling down the stairs.

Szayel… why…? Why was he doing this!? Was he planning to sacrifice him so that he could skip a round?

For a second he found himself going through everything that had been happening the past few years. The odd behavior he saw now and then displayed from his brother. There had been something wrong with him for a long time.

Intense pain shot through his back, neck, and head as he landed in the middle of the stairs, and he could do nothing to stop himself from rolling down. He groaned in pain and tried to sit up, but a foot stomped down onto his chest. Pain shot through his chest, and there was a sickening crack. It felt like he couldn’t breath, and when he tried the pain just increased. He couched, there was a metallic taste in his mouth and as he couched again he could feel blood fill his mouth.

Another hard stomp on his chest, and he tried to scream up, but the blood in his throat and mouth didn’t allow him to make a real sound. Everything around him was fading, and the last thing he remembered seeing was Szayel standing in the stairs with a huge grin on his face.

This was not the first time you participated in a murder, right, brother?

~~~~~

Betrayed by your own brother. How cold. He supposed this pink haired male was one he should really keep an eye on.


	14. Round 1 End - Uryū

He was trembling, his whole body was shaking. This had been such a terrifying experience, and though he had managed to stay calm during most of it, now it was really hitting him just what the HELL he had been though. He had spent twelve hours being chased by a murderer, and seen people get killed, and now he was forced to wait here until another round. Was the next round going to be the same as this? He had no idea, and the unknown was so terrifying, but probably just as scary as it would have been had he known what he was to deal with next.

“Uryū!”

He looked up when he heard someone say his name and across the room he saw a person he actually knew, someone he had thought he would never see again.

“CHAD!” he called out and ran over to him, hugging him without thinking. His actions appeared to have surprised Chad as it took him a moment to react, and when he did he decided to hug back.

Right. After each round two groups would be merged into one, until in the end it was just one large group left. Having Chad here was both a relief and causing him to worry. He hated knowing that the other had been through the same thing as he had, and he feared for his friend’s life.

“Do you think the others are here too?” he suddenly found himself asking.

Oh no. What if Inoue and Kurosaki were both stuck here like them!? That thought made him sick, and he found himself clinging even more to Chad. Damn this whole situation!

“I don’t know,” Chad confessed. Uryū could tell that the other was worried too. It was going to be hell to get any sleep before the next round, but at least he was no longer alone here, there was some comfort in Chad being by his side. Together they could get through this. They had to.


	15. Before round 2 - Tesla

Tesla had just been lucky he had survived that round. The killer had been on his way into the room he had been hiding in when the round had ended and he had somehow found himself back here in this room, together with the rest from his own group and two more people from another group, one was a stranger to him, and the other was his boss. Nnoitra was here too, and he was in a horrible mood.

At first he had blamed Tesla for this, but even he noticed how that didn’t make sense. However that didn’t stop him from punching him in the stomach, causing him to throw up and struggle to breath for a while afterwards.

Food had appeared and with that Nnoitra had decided to be calm for a while, until he broke the neck of one of the survivors. In Tesla’s group 4 others had survived, and through the night Nnoitra had gone after each and every one of them to take them out, clearly with the objective of getting to skip the next round, and because it was fun. Yeah, Tesla knew his boss wasn’t all there, but he was going to be loyal to him either way, so he did what he could to help.

“I thought I had killed every single one of the fuckers in my group,” Nnoitra grumbled before directing a kick at one of the locked doors. It was only one more person left, except for the two of them now.

“I can happen to the best, boss,” Tesla replied.

“Shut up,” Nnoitra hissed and glared at Tesla for a moment, then returned his attention to the door in front of him.

Another kick and the door gave in. They both stepped inside the room. It appeared to be empty, but they knew someone was hiding in here.

“Check the bed,” Nnoitra ordered and Tesla did as he was told. In the meantime Nnoitra went to the bathroom door and tried to open it. It wasn’t locked, so that was no problem. Whoever was in here had decided to hide.

Tesla checked under the bed, no one there, then moved around a bit, scanning the room. There was nothing else here that should allow someone to hide. So where had they gone? He watched as Nnoitra stomped out of the bathroom. Not there either. The taller male was looking around, fury in his eyes as he did so.

“WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?!” he yelled. Tesla would have jumped had he not been so used to this.

“I am not certain,” he replied and looked over the room, slowly scanning his surroundings. Then he stepped over to the nearest wall. “Maybe there is a secret hiding place somewhere here.”

Nnoitra narrowed his eyes at Tesla. “Are you suggesting I kick down every fucking wall in here?”

Tesla was quiet for a moment. “Or I can see if one of these panels are loose.”

“Then fucking do it.” Nnoitra sat down on the bed that was in the room and watched as Tesla slowly moved from wall panel to panel, examining every single one of them and testing if any of them were loose, or if there was a hollow sound when he knocked on them.

Then he got to one panel that wasn’t completely right. He found a crack on the side and used that to try to pull it open. As he did so he hadn’t noticed that Nnoitra had walked up to him and without warning pushed Tesla aside, only to kick the panel, and it disappeared into the wall and there was a scream.

“You can’t do anything on your own, uh?” Nnoitra hissed as he looked over at the other and then nodded his head towards the opening in the wall. “Get the fucker out of there.”

Tesla nodded and walked back to the hole. The panel had broken, and clearly caused some injuries to the person who had been hiding, and now they were curled up in a corner of the tiny hiding place, shaking and sobbing. Tesla sighed and reached inside and grabbed hold of the person’s arm and roughly pulled him out of there. The person fell to the floor in front of Nnoitra’s feet and immediately Nnoitra started to stomp on him. Tesla could hear bones break, see the guy vomit, and there was a lot of blood in that, and after that kept coughing up blood. Until he became completely quiet. His skull was crushed and Tesla was willing to bet that his ribcage was crushed too.

Then Nnoitra turned towards him. It was only the two of them left.

“I refuse to take part in the next round,” Nnoitra hissed.

Tesla took a deep breath and nodded. “I understand. Thank you for letting me work for you, it has been an honor,” he continued and walked over to the bed and lay down in it. Strangulation would be the easiest way to go.

Nnoitra said nothing as he got on top of him, his knees on top of Tesla’s arms to make sure he didn’t struggle and then wrapped his long fingers around Tesla’s throat. It was incredibly painful, but he did not make a sound or complain. Everything was slowly fading out of view as not only was Nnoitra making sure he couldn’t breathe, but he was also stopping blood from reaching his brain.

It was strange. Death should be frightening, but it wasn’t. Years ago when Nnoitra had decided to take him in he had decided that his life was in Nnoitra’s hands, that he could do as he pleased.

At least he hoped he had been of some use to him. The last thing he saw before everything faded away was Nnoitra grinning down at him.

~~~~~

“So willing to give away his life, and so willing to take someone’s life. Interesting,” he hummed. He supposed he would have to let this last surviving person in this group skip this round then. He had been lucky that he had managed to be the only one left now, as it was only half an hour until the next round started.


	16. 6PM - Renji

The first round had been awful, and now he had to deal with another round!? He feared that this might be a never ending thing, that it would only stop once everyone was dead. Not that he was going to let any of that show however. He might panic and yell a bit, but once it counted he could keep himself focused and stay on target. That’s how he had managed it the day before.

As the round had started everything had become dark, and there had been strange sound around them, and when there was light once more they found themselves somewhere else. A new and very creepy location.

They were in a tunnel of some sort. It looked to be under ground. He had never seen a place like this before, and was really fucking confused how they had ended up here.

“This looks like the catacombs in Paris,” one girl said.

Okay, that made everything so much worse! But he couldn’t let it show, even if he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs that this was insane, that there was no way they could have been transported here!

Instead he started to walk forward. Someone behind him called out and asked where he was going.

“We’re sitting ducks here. If this is like last round, then there will be enemies somewhere here,” Renji replied.

“And you might be walking straight towards said enemy.”

Renji shrugged. “Maybe, but the bastard who is watching is most certainly not going to like us all hanging around in one place, so I bet that if we just stay here, then we’ll get fucked.”

He continued on, just slowly moving through this place. It was creepy as hell, and dimly lit. This place really could not get any worse. He realized that it could get worse once he came across human bones. This was already worse than last round. They were lost in a catacomb, not knowing where to go or where they were, or what might be around the next corner, and they still had no idea who the enemy was.

This was the closest to hell he had ever experienced.


	17. 7PM - Grimmjow

This round was already more annoying than the last one, and it was all because of this ONE person. This one person who had come from the other group that had merged with his own.

During the last round he had spent pretty much the whole round on a beam that was in the living room, throwing taunts at the killer whenever he appeared. The killer had not even tried to reach him, apparently that would be too much work for him. Grimmjow had been fine with that, it meant less stress for him and he got to save energy until whatever hell was thrown at them next.

He had however not expected one of the other people here to be the worst part of it all.

“I’ll break your fucking neck if you complain any further, brat,” Grimmjow hissed and sent the other a sharp look. They were moving through the tunnels in this catacomb, and at this point Grimmjow was just trying to figure out what the point of this round was. He had seen nothing, except this fucker that was following him, and at one point he had almost walked into a guy who was also just moving around here.

“Right, as if you could kill me if you tried,” the other responded.

Grimmjow glared at him again. He had learned that this bastard’s name was Luppi, and he really hoped this fucker did not survive the rest of the night since he was so sick of dealing with him already. So maybe that was his motivation for walking around, to find the enemy that was probably somewhere around here so that they could kill him.

“Don’t fucking test me,” Grimmjow growled. He had killed before, and before being dragged into this game he had been in jail for that, so he was not afraid of taking lives, and he would if he had to.

Now was this just a fucking troll round, or was there actually something to fear down here?


	18. 8PM - Ichigo

“For how long have we been in here?” Ichigo asked. He had grouped up with several people, just like he had done last round. They had managed to keep the killer away that way, and they were hoping the same strategy was going to work here too.

Right now they were all sitting together in a large room. It was circular, and there were three paths they could take from here, and between the openings to those paths were several holes in the walls where coffins had been placed, or were meant to be placed. Many were filled up, but some were empty, and some had fallen apart and caused bones to spill onto the ground.

“I don’t know,” one of the others said.

They sat in silence for a while. Conversations would probably have started had it not been for how off guard that risked putting them. They needed to listen in case something was heading towards them, they could not afford letting anything sneak up on them.

There were sounds. It was distant, but they sounded like footsteps. Ichigo and a few of the others turned their heads in the direction of where the sound was coming from. Now they watched and waited, and slowly got to their feet, ready to get out of there if they had to. It could just be other people, but it could also be whatever enemy they were up against this time.

Seconds ticked by, and then Ichigo saw someone walk around the corner, and was heading towards them. They were moving slowly, shuffling as they did so, and making low groans, as though they were in pain. It could be someone who was hurt, and just as Ichigo had been about to step forward, feeling the need to help he was stopped.

“I don’t think that is one of us.”

“Really?” Ichigo looked from the person next to him and then back towards the one heading towards them. That was when he saw that there were more of them following behind.

“Zombies?”

“Zombies aren’t real.”

“Let’s go,” Ichigo decided. He was not going to stay here and test how real this was, so they left the room and headed down one of the pathways that were clear.


	19. 9PM - Luppi

“What the fuck is that!?” Luppi laughed. “Really, this round we’re supposed to be scared of someone dressed up for a zombie walk? This is so incredibly dumb.”

He placed a hand on his hip as he watched the group of ‘zombies’ walk towards him. There was not a trace of fear within his body, then again, he hadn’t exactly been scared last round either.

“You want to check if they are real or not?” Grimmjow asked and sent him a glare.

Ugh, this guy was insufferable, but Luppi would prefer not to walk around alone, just how sad would that be? No, he was going to tag along for this round, and the next one too, and the one after that, until the very end! Mainly out of spite, since he knew the other disliked him, that had been clear from early on, but he just chose to ignore that fact.

He watched as Grimmjow turned and decided to walk in the opposite direction, away from the ‘zombies’.

“You scared?” Luppi teased and followed along. No answer. Whatever.

They got to a place where the bath gave them two choices, left or continue on straight ahead. More sounds of someone shuffling, and Luppi saw Grimmjow start to run. He did so too, and made sure to look to the left when he got to the opening, and saw even more of those ‘zombies’ there. They reached out to try to get him, but he managed to dodge them, and continued on forward. His eyes widened. Ahead of them were more of them, but they were far ahead, just turned around the corner that was there. So, they were essentially surrounded. Except. He hadn’t noticed it at first since Grimmjow was ahead of him, but there was a door to the right.

This was too much running for him, and he could feel that he was not able to keep up with Grimmjow, but he continued to try to push himself. Real zombies or not, he did not want to get trapped out here with them.

Grimmjow got to the door, opened it, and closed it behind himself. When Luppi reached it the zombies were a lot closer, maybe about five meters, so he didn’t have a lot of time before they could reach him. He gripped the door handle and tried to push the door open, but it didn’t move.

“What the hell!” he yelled and banged on the door. “HEY ASSHOLE, OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!”

No response. He tried again, doing everything he could to try to get the door to budge, but nothing worked. He kicked and yelled and eventually the door moved slightly. Something was blocking it, and it wasn’t Grimmjow himself. Asshole had placed something in front of it!

He was pushing as hard as he could, trying to get the damn door to open. This was taking more strength than he had, and panic was flooding his whole body. He looked to his left and immediately jumped back. They were so close they could almost reach him now.

“Fuck off!” he said and decided to try to kick one of them, and when he did… he saw that the one he had kicked lost an arm. It had already looked like it had been about to fall off, but now it really did. Also, the smell was just getting worse and worse. He had figured it was bad because of where they were, but now he noticed that it was coming from these guys. “What the hell is going on here?!”

He backed away. There was no way for him to get to the door now, and when he looked back the way he had come he saw that there were more of them over there. So, what did he do now? He could try to fight his way through?

“Like I have a fucking choice,” he hissed and moved forward. Knocking one of them down, but sadly, just as he was about to go for a second one he was grabbed and within a second they were all on him.

He screamed in pain as nails dug into his skin, and teeth tore at his flesh. They were ripping him to pieces. He looked down and to his horror saw two hands working to rip out his organs. Then everything went black, and there was no more pain anymore.

~~~~~

“He lasted for longer than I had expected,” he hummed to himself and looked over to see how some of the others were doing. They were dying like flies now. Perhaps he had overdone it this round.


	20. 10PM - Rangiku

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last of the pre written chapters, so not it's going to take a lot longer between the chapters.

“Really?” she huffed as she barely managed to dodge a zombie that had been hiding in one of the rooms she walked by. It was as though the thing had just been waiting for her. Thankfully she had managed to slip past them. They were really everywhere now, and when she had seen how many there were of them, and how grabby they were, she had been quick to put her long hair up into a bun to prevent them from gripping hold of it.

She got to a corner and paused there for a bit as she listened. Yes, there were sounds coming from where she had been, she knew there was a small group moving around back there, but she could not hear anything ahead of herself. Deep breath and then she quickly rounded the corner, her arms held on front of herself like a shield so that she would not awkwardly just walk into one of those things if one had been standing there. Instead she had been ready to push them away from herself.

She did this around every corner she passed, and once this might have saved her life as there had been one of those things just around the corner and she had managed to knock them back when she had rounded the corner, and with that prevented it from grabbing hold of her.

She continued on down the hallway, moving at a light jog. There were sounds ahead of her. So there might be a few there. Damn. There was a couple of doors ahead of her too, so those might be her safest bet. Unless one of them were filled with those creature. Well, it was a risk, actually, everything here was a risk.

“Good thing I like gambling,” she hummed to herself as she stopped in front of one door. Now, let’s see what’s behind door number one.

Rangiku slowly opened it, and then shut it just as quickly. Several heads and turned towards her when she had opened it. “Nope.” On to the next one, but now she could hear scratching and knocking against that door. Oops. Sometimes you lost a lot when gambling, she knew that much.

Door number two. Like before she opened it slowly, and there were no one in here so he quickly slipped inside and slowly closed the door. It was almost pitch black in here. Only a crack in the wall allowed a bit of light inside, and from what he saw there were several coffins everywhere here. Most of them stacked on top of one another. Well. Idea, if some of those morons got in here, she might as well climb on top of that pile and keep them off of her from there. But she wasn’t worried for now, they usually reacted to sounds, and she was not going to be making any sounds in here.

Now she just had to wait. And wait. Ugh, this was already boring.


	21. 11PM - Byakuya

He took a deep breath as he stared down the small hoard heading towards him. These appeared to truly be zombies, which raised a lot of questions, and to make it worse, one of them he had recognized as someone who had died in his group last round. This all was insane, and he questioned just how the person who was behind all this had managed to do this.

There was a group of people behind him, all of them working to pull open a large door they had found. It was the only way forward now. And while they were trying to get it open Byakuya had said he would prevent the hoard from getting any closer. While running around here for hours he had managed to find a old sword, and it had turned out to be pretty sturdy, but he didn’t completely trust it, not like he would trust the weapons he had back home.

He moved forward, his grip on the sword handle tightened slightly as he lifted his arm and with a wide arch decapitated two of the zombies. The rest of the hoard didn’t even flinch. They just continued forward. He cut down another one, and backed away. Slowly, slowly he had to inch back towards the rest of his group, but he was managing to slow the zombie’s progress towards them, and as more of them fell, a couple of them would trip and get trampled to death by the others. 

“Any progress?” he asked. He couldn’t exactly look back at them.

“Yes, it’s moving, just keep them there for a bit longer.”

Okay, good. He still had several meters between himself and the group, and even if it was tiring to continuously cut these walking dead down, he could keep going for a while longer. His stamina was not something he was worried about, he was more worried about how he was being forced back by the approaching hoard.

“The door is open!”

Byakuya turned and ran over to the others and slipped into the crack they had managed to make and they all started to pull at the door to close it. It was heavy, but they managed, and was then left in pitch blackness.

Knocking on the door. The zombies wanted to get inside, but couldn’t. Now, all they could do was sit there in that darkness and wait for the time to run out.


	22. Midnight - Orihime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's really taking me ages to write these chapters now. Sorry, a lot of fics and being the team leader for a group of game devs takes a lot of time.

“Close the door,” one of the others hissed as they climbed.

“There might be other people out there who need help,” Orihime replied. She wanted to keep as many people as possible safe, so she kept staying by the open door and looked around. There were sounds of some of them coming from one direction, but she couldn’t see them yet, so it was still time.

Now and then she would turn to look elsewhere. The room they were in was large and circular, and the walls were filled with holes for coffins, and that’s where the others in her group had decided to climb up. Now they were looking for empty holes to climb into and wait this awful round out. It was the safes thing to do, or so they figured since running around might cause them to get trapped between two groups of those horrible things.

She looked back out into the hallway that this door was connected to. Right, then left, then right again. Now she could see a group of those things coming from the left. They were far away, but she would now have to start thinking about closing the door.

Footsteps. It sounded like someone jogging.

She turned her head right. The person heading this way was getting closer and closer, but she still couldn’t see them because of the corner that was there. For a moment she looked towards the hoard heading her way. They were slowly getting closer, but there was still plenty of time. When she turned right she could see the person heading this way now.

“In here!” she said and waved at the man. She stepped back to allow him to enter the room where he paused and took a moment to breath. “Sounds like you’ve been running for a while.”

“Not really, but I have been forced to stay on the move this whole round,” he replied and brushed some his black hair away from his face.

“Do you have energy to climb up there then?” Orihime asked and pointed.

“Yes, I will manage.”

“Was there anyone else in the direction you came from?” she asked. He shook his head. So with that she closed the door and locked it. It was the only door that could be locked out of the ones that lead here. “I’m Orihime,” she said with a smile as she turned back towards him and watched as he started to climb.

“Ulquiorra,” he replied.

“Nice to meet you!”

Ulquiorra paused and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then continued to climb until he was high enough up and then got into one of the empty holes meant for a coffin. Orihime climbed up too and entered the one next to him.

“You’re oddly optimistic despite the situation we are in,” Ulquiorra commented.

“Someone has to be! If I’m not then who would encourage everyone to move forward and not give up?”

“Their survival instincts should prevent that from happening.”

Orihime chuckled. “Maybe.”

Sounds from one of the other paths leading there. It only took a short while and then those zombies started to appear and filled the whole room. Now they just stood there and did nothing. They didn’t try to climb, but now and then they would look up at them when they spoke, but it was clear they couldn’t reach them.

So, they were safe then!


	23. 1AM - Toshiro

He grit his teeth as he turned to look over his shoulder. Well, this was a tricky situation to be in. Behind him was a hoard, and it had been following him for a quite some time now. Didn’t help that he had been injured last round, so moving around was rather painful. This is what he got for trying to help people. Though this round he hadn’t seen anyone yet, and it made him wonder just how huge this place was.

He continued on, gritting his teeth at the pain in his left leg where the wound was. During the break he had done what he could to patch it up, but he knew it was still bleeding, he could feel it.

This whole situation was infuriating, but he did his best to keep a calm mind. He had to. He had to get out of here, and preferably find out who had done this!

Footsteps ahead of him. DAMN! He paused. Behind him there was a hoard, and ahead of him there was one too. This was… no good. No doors, he couldn’t see any doors he could escape into.

He looked back. He could see the hoard, slowly make its way towards him. When he looked ahead he could see the other hoard doing so too. He was trapped.

Taking a deep breath he looked around, scanning the small space he could move in and that was when he saw it. There was a sizable crack between the wall and the ceiling. He might be able to squeeze through it. It was worth a try at least! He hated to admit it, but this one time his small size might be an advantage.

With renewed strength he got to the wall and tried to figure out how to climb it. It was hard to get any sort of grip on it, and finding places to set his feet were just as hard. He got half way up, and then fell. His wounded leg made it hard for him to land on his feet, and he was sure that he was bleeding even heavier now. How much more blood could he lose!?

He took a moment to check how close the two hoards were. Too close. They had come far too close. A couple of minutes and they would be able to reach him. So he guessed he had no more than one more try to reach that crack and get out of here.

He started to climb again. Gripping the wall to hard it hurt, and he was pretty sure he would end up ripping off a fingernail or two, but it would hopefully be worth it. Slowly he made his way up the wall, and reached the hole. He gripped the edge, only for that piece to fall out, and for a moment he thought he was going to fall, but he managed to hang on with his other hand. A low growl managed to escape his throat. Every muscle in his body was in pain, but he couldn’t give up now. He had to continue! He climbed up the short distance he had lost and got both his hands on the edge of the crack he was going to climb through. He slowly got his upper body up onto the edge, and could now look inside. There appeared to be nothing in there. He saw no people, no movement, nothing. Perfect.

Slowly he started to work to get the rest of his body over when he felt something grip his ankle. NO! Not now! His eyes widened and he tightened his grip on what he was holding as the hands started to pull at him.

He started to kick, and tried to get his leg free. Then there was sudden sharp pain in his leg. He had never felt anything like that before, and he barely managed to hold back a scream. He kept on fighting, kicking and trying to pull the rest of his body up over the edge. Then they suddenly let go of him and he pretty much fell into the room that was on the other side of the wall. He landed on his back and knocked all the air out of his lungs, resulting in him laying there for several minutes just trying to catch his breath.

Slowly he managed to sit up. He felt dizzy and weak. This was not good! He looked over at the leg that was still throbbing with pain and what he was made him sick. It looked like they had decided to start to eat his leg. So much of the flesh and muscles were missing, and he could see the bone.

“I’m dying… aren’t I?”

He could see so much of his blood gushing out of the wound, and he knew that there was nothing he could do to stop it. So instead he decided to lay down. Calm his mind, and think about whatever good had happened in his life. Friends, family. People who cared for him, and quietly apologized that they would never see him again, and maybe they would never find out what happened to him either.

The strength in his body was fading. He felt so tired, so heavy. His eyes slipped close. Think of it as going to sleep. He was just going to sleep. His last breath came out as a low sigh.

~~~~~

Ah, what wasted potential. He took a sip from his tea and rose to his feet. Time to get something to eat. He would know if someone else died while he was away.


	24. 2AM - Shuhei

He almost crashed into the wall as he had been running at full speed and tried to turn right around a corner. Those creepy zombie likes things had decided to burst through a door he had been walking by and caused him to immediately start sprinting down the hall. That had scared the life out of him, and it had not been the first time either. These things were appearing everywhere now. Out of random rooms and ahead of him or behind him, but thus far he had always found a way through or around them, and without getting injured too. Luck had really been on his side, for now, but for how long would that last?

He shook his head as he slowed down. This really wasn’t the time to think about things like this. He had to stay focused so that he could get through this all, and hopefully do so alive. A sense of dread ran through him at that. He had no idea if he was going to survive this, or what was next. Since… this wasn’t the last round? He was pretty sure this wasn’t the last of it, and whatever was ahead of him was maybe more terrifying than what he was dealing with right now.

The sounds of those zombies following him prompted him to get out of his head and continue forward. Maybe he should find somewhere to stop, somewhere to hide? No, for now there had been zombies behind every door he had opened, so he would just have to continue, even if he knew he risked getting stuck between two groups of them. Every turn, every corner, every door could mean his death, and he was constantly on the edge of panic.

At the beginning of the round he had been a part of a group, but he had quickly lost them during an ambush where he had panicked and ran off. That’s pretty much how he had stayed alive during the last round too. Just moving, kept moving, but it felt like that might not be the best option this time. It had worked when there was just one enemy he needed to be aware of, but now there were countless.

Damn this!


	25. 3AM - Tatsuki

“Go! NOW!”

She watched as the others ran down the only path they could go right now, and it appeared endless with no doors or turns, so hopefully that was a good sign. The path was in the formation of a T, and behind them was a group of zombies coming from them, and ahead of her was also some of them, but it was a slow trickle, and she was working to take them down as they got closer and closer to give the others time to get away.

She had spent so much time last round looking to make sure that Orihime wasn’t also trapped her, and at the end of the round when her group and been joined by another she had seen to her relief that Orihime was not there. Though the relief had been short as that meant that if she was trapped in here she was in another group. 

Why did she think Orihime was here?

Because the last thing she could remember before being trapped in this living nightmare was that she had been with Orihime. If she had been taken here, then it was very likely that she would have been taken here too. Hopefully she was wrong, and if she wasn’t wrong, then she hoped Orihime was okay, that she was able to stay safe.

She lifted the steel rod she was holding and with a decisive swing, like she was holding a baseball bat aiming to hit an incoming baseball she smashed the skull of a zombie that had come within reach. There were several dead ones laying by her feet now, and the large group that they had been running from was getting closer and closer, so she decided to slowly retreat into the hallway where the others were. This path was a bit more narrow than the one they had been in, so she hoped that would make it more difficult for the zombies to follow as they would struggle against one another to get inside.

With one last look over her shoulder she started to lightly jog down the hall, skipping over a few bricks that were just laying in her path and eventually she reached the others who had slowed down and was carefully making their way down.

Where this path would lead them, they didn’t know, and all they could hope was that it would not lead to their death.


	26. 4AM - Yoruichi

“You really are everywhere now, aren’t you?” she said with a grin as she used a stone that was sticking out from the wall to launch herself over a couple of the monsters that barely resembled humans. Thus far she had managed to dodge and avoid them, despite the injury she had sustained during the last round.

So what had happened? Well, she had managed to get herself into a fight with the killer, and it had caused her to damage her right arm, but that did not slow her down. Not at all. The whole time she ignored the pain in her arm and shoulder and just kept moving forward. Like everyone else, her goal was to get through this, though unlike some her goal wasn’t necessarily to get out, but to figure out who was behind this all.

“I better merge with Kisuke’s group sooner or later,” she huffed to herself as she slowed down to a slow jog.

She kept moving for a while, just following the only path she could take. Carefully around a corner, and then she paused. Great. Ahead was a hoard. She had met two of those up until now, and she knew there was no way over or through, people she had been with had tried, and it hadn’t exactly worked.

“Come on,” she huffed and her shoulders sank for a bit. Well, she could turn and go back, even through there was another hoard somewhere back there, or…

Her gaze fell upon a door that was between her and the hoard. It was worth a shot. She quickly made her way over to it and tried to open it. Locked. Really? She tried again, maybe it was just one of those incredibly heavy doors. Nope. She couldn’t move it no matter how much she pushed or pulled.

“Just my luck, uh,” she sighed and took a step back, her hands placed on her hips. “Guess I have to head back then.”

She turned, and then… there was a sound coming from the door. Once more her attention was on it. A click and then the door opened sightly. Without hesitation she quickly got inside and closed the door behind herself, and the person who had opened the door locked it again.

“Thanks,” Yoruichi said with a grin.

“What’s it like out there?” a small girl asked.

“Um.” Oh no, there were children in this mess?! What anger she felt towards the bastard behind this only increased. “Well. There’s zombies everywhere, that much I can say.”

“Seen any other survivors?”

She turned towards the person who had opened the door for her. A woman with long green hair.

“Saw someone a while ago, don’t know if they are still alive. They kind of ran off in a panic,” Yoruichi replied. “Anyone you’re looking for?”

The woman shook her head. “No. I just hope as many as possible are able to survive.” It was said with a smile, so clearly she was trying to stay optimistic, if not for herself then for the children she was with. Good. So Yoruichi smiled too and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

“If more people are keeping the same attitude as you, then I’m sure they will. I’m Yoruichi. Before being thrown in here I worked as a private detective.”

“Nelliel. I’m a police officer, it’s nice to meet you.” Nelliel had been about to say something else when a loud crash caught their attention. Something had collided with the door. They both turned and looked towards it. Something was trying to get in, and Yoruichi was willing to bet that it was the zombies. There was no way any other survivors had been able to get here. “Looks like our hiding place has been found,” Nelliel commented.

Yoruichi looked around, now taking a proper look at the room they were in. Was there any way out, or a way for them to barricade the door? All that was here was some old rotting coffins. Nothing else. This was a perfectly rectangular room with nothing interesting in it. They were trapped.

The two children had curled up together in a corner, which sadly wouldn’t do them any good if those creatures managed to break through the door. Hopefully it would hold. She had no idea what the time was, but they must be getting close to the end now, right?

“Maybe there’s a way to get through one of these walls,” Nelliel suddenly said and Yoruichi rose an eyebrow at her. She said it in such a strange dreamy tone. “We were in another room earlier, and there were loose bricks there, so maybe there’s some of those here too!”

“That’s certainly worth a shot,” Yoruichi said with a nod. She couldn’t think of anything else to do right now, and she was not going to just sit down and wait for death to come to her.

Another loud sound from the door as they were trying to get inside. The children had started to sob.

“We’ll get out of here, okay, don’t worry, we’ve got this!” Nelliel called out, still a smile on her face, but Yoruichi could tell that she was feeling the pressure of the situation they were in.

Without wasting another second Yoruichi started to move around in the room. On her first round she studied the walls, trying to see if anything stood out, but she couldn’t see anything in particular that caught her eye. Then she slowly started to feel them, and even though her mind told her to hurry up she took her time. She couldn’t afford to be careless. On the other side Nelliel was doing the same.

Another bang came from the door, but it sounded like it was still holding, so they still had time, but how much time exactly? She paused. There was one loose brick here. She tried to see if she could wiggle it out or push it in. This might be it. A smile spread across her lips.

It was impossible for her to pull it out, but she did manage to push it an inch or so in, but that was as far as it went, and those around it was completely stuck. Damn, so close. Well, the silver lining was that if one of these were loose like that, then maybe more would be. With that in mind she continued on.

She didn’t even flinch when she heard the door make a sound again, and this time it sounded like it was struggling to hold. Were the hinges giving in? She turned towards it, and then looked over at Nelliel, and she did so just in time to see the other push in one brick. The green haired female turned towards her with a big smile.

“Are any of the others around it loose?” Yoruichi asked.

“Yes.”

“Good. You take care of that, and I will deal with the door to buy us some more time.”

Nelliel nodded and gripped hold of the next brick and worked on getting it free, while Yoruichi moved over to the door and pushed back against the force that was trying to make their way in here.

While she stood there she could watch Nelliel work, and she was clearly doing her best, but those bricks were not as loose as they might have hoped. It took a lot of strength to get them out.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

She was almost forced a step or two forward as something slammed into the door once more. The hinges made a loud sound. They wouldn’t be able to hold for much longer. She grit her teeth, and used all the strength she could manage to hold the door in its place.

“Once you have a hole big enough to get through, you go through first, just to make sure that there’s no enemies in there, or deal with them while the children join you. Got it?” Yoruichi said. Nelliel paused and looked over at her. “DON’T STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING!” Yoruichi yelled and Nelliel jumped a bit and quickly got back to work. Now Yoruichi could see that there was blood on Nelliel’s hands. If it was due to cuts or broken nails, she couldn’t tell.

“Are you sure about that?” Nelliel asked without turning.

“I am. I will hold this damn door for as long as I can, and then once all of you are through I will join you.”

“... Okay.”

Yoruichi could tell that Nelliel wanted to argue, but this was not the place nor time to do so. At this point she wondered how either of them had managed to get this far, she was willing to bet that Nelliel was the type to put other’s safety before herself, and with a mindset like that it was only a matter of time before she did something dumb like sacrifice herself. Something Yoruichi knew she risked doing right now.

From what she could see, the hole appeared to be large enough for a small child to enter though, so they were getting there, but it was taking too long. Far too long.

Another harsh slam into the door and this time one of the hinges broke. This was bad. Really bad. She shifted her position, leaning her uninjured shoulder against the door and pushing as hard as she could against it, but now she couldn’t see how Nelliel was doing, but she could hear her working.

The door was slowly being pushed open, and she grit her teeth as she saw a hand manage to sneak through the crack, then another. She wouldn’t be able to hold this for much longer, and she had been about to shout out to Nelliel to hear if she was done yet, only to hear Nelliel speak up first.

“Come here. It’s okay.”

She was calling for the children. Did that mean she was done? She wanted to turn to look, but she couldn’t without changing her position and then this door would be lost for sure.

“I’ll crawl inside, and then you follow right after me, okay? You’ll be safe, I’ll make sure of that,” Nelliel continued.

“Hurry!” Yoruichi called out. Nelliel could talk all she wanted later, right now there was no time, even if she wished to reassure the children that they would be fine.

She could hear them move, probably Nelliel crawling through the hole she had made, though the sound was mostly muffled by the zombies that were breaking through. Several arms were getting through the opening, and soon they would be push inside, and at that point she would just have to let go, it would be too dangerous for her to stand here as they broke through. The second hinge made a loud sound, it was breaking off to, meaning that she was pretty much holding the door on her own against the force on the other side.

“It’s safe in here!” Nelliel called. “Come.”

Okay, good, the children would be getting through now. She grit her teeth, and continued to push with all her might against the hoard. Though to her horror she could see one of their heads peaking through the crack, and it managed to get part of its shoulder through too. With that much of its body inside the room it reached for her, and had she not jumped back then it would have grabbed her.

The door fell onto the floor with a loud crash, and the zombies were flooding inside the room. Yoruichi did not allow herself to freeze up for even a second. She whirled around and rushed over to the hole. The last of the two children was crawling through, getting some help from Nelliel as the boy did so just to make the process faster.

The hole wasn’t very big, so she guessed it hadn’t been easy for Nelliel to squeeze through, and she herself would probably struggle a bit too, but she would make it.

Once at the hole she looked back. Ugh, they were close, and they were getting closer by the second. Quickly she got to her knees, then onto her stomach, as the hole was down by the floor. It was the lowest bricks that had been loose. At least it would be incredibly difficult for the zombies to get through here as she knew they weren’t intelligent enough to get this low and start crawling.

She started to crawl, moving as fast as she could. Though getting her upper body through the hole was going to be hard so, she got her hands and head through, and Nelliel was quick to grab hold of one of her arms and started to pull.

Yoruichi ignored the way the bricks were digging into her back, probably ripping apart her shirt at this point. It was worth it, she just had to get out of this damn room! Her upper body had just made it through when she felt one of those things grab her leg.

“Quick! They got me, keep pulling!” Yoruichi said. Nelliel’s eyes widened and she did as she was told.

As Nelliel pulled, and Yoruichi was doing her best to kick those zombies away, she could feel more and more hands on her legs. Then there was a sharp pain. She clenched her jaw and did her best to keep moving, to continue to get to safety.

The pain was now running up both her legs, and it was so intense she couldn’t really identify just where they were biting or scratching her, or what exactly they were doing. Something else was wrong, something was very wrong with her left leg, she could tell that much. That was when she realized she couldn’t bend her left knee… because there was nothing to bend.

“Let go of me,” Yoruichi managed so say.

“No. I’m not leaving you behind,” Nelliel replied stubbornly.

“I won’t be able to walk anymore, so leave!” She didn’t want to tell them just how bad it was. “And you better survive though this, okay? Go. Now. Don’t let me die for nothing, and if you see a guy called Urahara, let him know that I tried, and I wanted to stand by his side until the end, but this is as far as I’ll go.”

“You can’t give up now,” Nelliel continued, tears forming in her eyes now.

“I know when a fight is lost.” She was starting to feel faint. How much blood had she lost? “I don’t have much longer. So at least let the last thing I see be you running away from here.”

Finally Nelliel decided to listen and let go of Yoruichi. One more time the green haired lady looked at her, and then she turned and took the children’s hands and ran away, deeper into whatever crypt they were now in.

“Good,” she whispered and closed her eyes.

~~~~~

“Such a pity. I had hoped I would see her at the end,” he mumbled as he leaned his chin on the palm of his hand. “I suppose that is what you achieve when you decide to play hero, and how many more heroes will we lose I wonder.”


End file.
